Modern girls can only dream of the recognition that Elena Troyanskaya used. The beauty of this woman conquered the hearts of legendary heroes, provoking risky deeds, and made her the envy of others, turning the life of the queen into an endless pursuit.
Elena Troyan - who is this?
The glory of the most beautiful woman is attributed to the daughter of King Sparta Tindarei. True, according to legend, real paternity belongs to the loving Zeus , the ruler of Olympus. Greek Helen Beautiful since the childhood surprised with its appearance, so there was no shortage of grooms. The father could not choose the most worthy and after long meditations he decided to allow his daughter to make a choice herself. As a result, she married Menelaus, who became the next king of Sparta.
What did Elena Troyan look like?
Legends tell about the amazing beauty of this woman, but they do not describe the appearance of Helen of Troy in detail. Even Homer in the Iliad does not reflect on her deep eyes or the fineness of the camp. Only in the third chapter it is said that she looks like an eternal goddess. Other documents indicate the excellent shape of the chest, which was taken as a model when making bowls for the temple of Aphrodite.
Lack of specifics gives a huge field for imagination, which was used by everyone who wanted to reproduce its appearance. Tintoretto portrays her as a puffy blond lady, Rossetti has the queen Elena Trojan, a slender blond woman, and Sandis saw her as a red-haired fat woman. Artists agreed in one thing - Elena's hair was wavy. In the movies, the legendary beauty also has blonde hair, only in "Trojans" she wears black hair.
Where was Elena the Beautiful born?
In addition to the official, boring version of the appearance of a wonderful girl, there are 3 more variants outlined in the legends. Assumptions are different, they converge only in determining the place of birth - Elena is a native inhabitant of Sparta.
- Evrepid claimed that she was the third daughter of Leda, who became pregnant with Zeus. This explains the amazing beauty of the girl.
- Ptolemy also did not deny the divine participation in the conception, but this time the mother of Helen the Beautiful Leda fell under the spell of Helios.
- The most interesting story says that Helen of Troy is the daughter of Zeus and Nemesides, and the thunderer seduced the goddess, being in the image of a swan. The result of love was the egg that Hermes placed on Leda's knees. The queen of Sparta could not refuse such a gift and recognized her daughter.
Who kidnapped Elena Troyan?
The exquisite appearance of the girl did not give rest to anyone who at least once saw her. To get rid of the overly persistent admirers, the father put protection on her, but that was not enough. Elena's kidnapper Beautiful Theseus took her to a twelve-year-old (according to another legend she was 10 years old) in Afidna, to her mother. When the hero went on another adventure, the brothers of Elena returned her home, denying all the rumors of dishonor. According to another version, she secretly gave birth to Theseus daughter Iphigenia, which she left in Mycenae from his wife Agamemnon.
Menelaus and Elena the Beautiful
The return took place when Tyndarei was already preparing to decide the fate of his daughter. He gave her the opportunity to choose her husband, but before that she took all oaths from all candidates for her ally with the future son-in-law. Soon a wedding with Menelaus was played, and Helen's fine husband took her to his room. Family happiness did not last long, after the birth of Hermione's daughter, a handsome man from Troy Paris, who became the next owner of the belle's heart, was visiting his wife.
Elena Troyan and Paris
The myth of Elena the Beautiful tells that Paris was not accidentally in Sparta. He went there hoping to see the most beautiful of women, not paying attention to the words of his wife, the prophetess of Enona, who predicted the death of his family and fatherland if he went to the Spartans. Paris and Elena met in the palace and fell in love, the escape took place when Menelaus needed to leave for Crete for the presence at the solemn sacrifice. The insulted husband called his comrades-in-arms (the former contenders for Helen's hand) and went on a chase.
Paris fled from the battlefield, Elena Troyanskaya accused him of cowardice and did not mourn when he died. Instead, she married his brother Deifob, who was soon killed by Menelaus. The husband wanted to kill his unfaithful wife, but could not destroy such a marvelous beauty, so he forgave and returned her home. After the death of her husband, Elena was expelled from Sparta by his illegitimate sons. Before the age of majority of her children, she ruled in Rhodes, and then was strangled by murderers, sent by the widow of Tlepolem, who died in the Trojan War.